In the first inning, Garcia did what he’s made a career out of doing: getting out of jams. He had runners at first and second and one out and he induced an inning-ending double play.

But he wasn’t so fortunate after that.

The 36-year-old allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up seven hits, including a homer, and walked two.

After taking a no-hitter into the seventh in his Orioles debut on May 4, Garcia (0-2) has not been effective in his past two starts.

He has given up eight runs (9 2/3 innings) for a 7.45 ERA.

Garcia is flawed, but he also can be an innings-eater and often keeps his teams in games. And right now the Orioles only have three starters (with Wei-Yin Chen and Miguel Gonzalez injured) in their rotation, so Garcia’s services and experiences are needed.

It was worth the experiment to sign Garcia to a minor league deal and give him a shot. And that experiment probably needs to continue for a couple more starts. They don’t have many alternatives, especially when it comes to experienced arms (Jair Jurrjens is expected to join the Orioles for Saturday’s start).

Wednesday was the bad that comes along with Freddy Garcia. But he also showed the good on May 4.

The Orioles have to deal with both right now, and hope that the good wins out. But the leash shouldn’t be excessively long, either.

Two or three more starts, though, seems reasonable for the Orioles to hope the effective Garcia emerges.

Lefty Wei-Yin Chen, the Orioles' most consistent starter since the beginning of last season, is “very disappointed right now” to be going on the disabled list for the first time in his brief major league career.

Buck Showalter's first glimpse of closer Jim Johnson inside the Orioles clubhouse moments after his remarkable consecutive-save streak came to an sudden end Tuesday night was the sight of Johnson working up a sweat on the exercise bike in the training room.